Grey Doll And Criminal Reading: Jan Costin Wagner

If, like me, you are cheered by discovering a new "crime series" to read... you'll understand my "hurrahs" when I recently read "Light in a Dark House" by German writer Jan Costin Wagner.
And if, like me, you enjoy a Nordic setting, then you get two treats in one because Wagner lives part of the time in Finland and it is in Finland that he sets his crime series featuring detective Kimmo Joentaa.

"Light in a Dark House" is his latest in this series to be translated into English (by respected translator Anthea Bell). The story centres on the murder of a coma patient in the local hospital, a mystery patient about whom nothing is known since she was found unconscious by the roadside. What follows is a multi-stranded investigation that brings Joentaa back into contact with Helsinki detective Westerberg and embraces several apparently unconnected murders. The narrative also uses passages from diaries, some from the present day and some from the 1980s.

I enjoyed this book and hope to backtrack to Wagner's earlier stories in the series. Be warned. If you don't appreciate a large slice of introspection or emotional content in your crime detection and detectives.... this may not be your style of reading. But it is mine!
You can read a full Euro crime review here.

Greydoll & Criminal Reading: The Namesake By Conor Fitzgerald

I do read crime fiction when I can.... It's not just for Mrs D you know.

A while back I do read "The Namesake" by Irish writer Conor Fitzgerald - part of his crime series featuring an American-born Rome police detective, Alec Blume.

"The Namesake" plunges Blume into the Calabrian Mafia... initially in a very unlikely vehicle and with a very unlikely travelling companion. As the book progressed I grew to understand and like Blume....(there's a touch of humour in there .... for I came to the conclusion that Blume is a naturally awkward man.) You got me with this one Mr Fitzgerald, I'm ready to read more.

Read a Euro Crime review here..... and give the Alec Blume books a go.

Mrs D Ponders Crime in Cairo: Parker Bilal & "Dogstar Rising"

As I can tell you for a fact... Mrs D does all of her travelling in her armchair... courtesy of books, film, music, ... and the internet.

She do sit down... reach for that glass of red and see where she do go next.

She is very pleased to have read the second crime book by British Sudanese writer, Jamal Mahjoub who writes under the nom-de-crime of Parker Bilal. He sets his books in Cairo with Sudanese refugee private-eye Makana investigating. She do like Makana, an outsider with a dry wit  and a painful past .... she do like his run-down houseboat and in general she do like Bilal's books. She looks forward to more.

Here's the Euro Crime Post that links to the latest batch of reviews including Bilal's "Dogstar Rising"... You might find some more crime fiction you would like to catch ... Mrs D would like to get her hands on "Pierced"  by Thomas Enger  for a start.....